Vanilla
by Shikami Yamino
Summary: Vanilla was timeless. Vanilla was familiar. Vanilla was comfort. Vanilla was... Athrun x Cagalli. [Oneshot]


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Disclaimer:** All characters and specifics of "Kidousenshi Gundam SEED Destiny" are copyrighted Sotsu Agency, Sunrise and Mainichi Broadcasting. All rights reserved. This fanfiction is property of Shikami Yamino and is not intended for any monetary purpose nor an infringement of copyright laws. No one is to post/host/use any aspect of this fanfic without explicit permission from the author. 

**Notes:** A little something to help ease the characterisation headaches that "GSD: Selfish" was giving me. Warning: Cheese ahead. Proceed at your own risk. /grins/

Kindly beta-ed by Neptune47.

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**Kidousenshi Gundam SEED Destiny: "Vanilla"**  
by Shikami Yamino

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Though few people outside the family had even the slightest inkling of a clue, it was a well known fact amongst the members of the extended Athha household that the Lady of the House harbored a love for ice-cream that came second to none.

It was a love that was absolute. It was a love that was all-encompassing. It was a love that surpassed even her love for kebabs completely smothered in chilli sauce -- though Andorew Waldfeld adamantly insisted this wasn't quite the feat everyone perceived it to be since yoghurt sauce was clearly superior where kebabs were concerned.

And it was with this love in mind that prime position in the freezer section of the Athha Estate's refrigerator remained permanently reserved for two innocuous containers -- each of them bearing nothing but the logo of the finest ice-creamery to be found in the entire Orb Union.

One of them, Athrun liked to call 'Flavor of the Month'; because said ice-creamery, situated, perhaps a little _too_ conveniently, a few blocks away from Orb's Central Administration Complex, delighted in inventing exotic new flavors with which to tempt their Head Representative on her way home from work.

The other, however, ever since its appearance, had consistently remained a rich and classic, but also very, very plain vanilla.

Cagalli had asked him once, genuinely curious after forcing him to try some of her Triple Raspberry White-choc Truffle, why he insisted on plain old vanilla when there were so many other, _better_ flavors around.

Cuddled on the couch, on one of those rare nights when neither of them had to work, with a random movie playing on the vid-screen and a bowl of popcorn between them, he'd smiled a little, replying easily that it was because vanilla reminded him of her.

Eyeing his bowl of the cold, creamy-white confectionery, she'd wrinkled her nose in distaste at his answer, sitting up to demand the reason why, if _any_ ice-cream flavor was going to remind him of her, that it had to be _vanilla_.

And it was at this point that Athrun's smile had softened.

Swirling his spoon through his dessert, he'd told her that while vanilla hadn't been the first flavor he'd ever tried, it had been the first he'd developed an affection for. He'd told her that regardless of how many flavors he'd subsequently tried, nothing since had quite caught his attention the same way as vanilla had.

He'd also told her, accompanied by an affectionate and knowing tilt of his head, that no matter how many flavors she insisted were far, far better, he doubted there could be anything more fulfilling than the simple and familiar comfort vanilla offered him.

The blush that had stained Cagalli's cheeks then had lingered; even as she'd scowled, taking a defiant bite of her ice-cream before waving her spoon semi-threateningly under his nose and indignantly announcing that just because he'd decided to wax poetic about _vanilla ice-cream_, of all things, didn't mean that she would be sticking to one flavor for the rest of her life.

To her irritation, he'd merely laughed warmly at the ominous warning, conceding that far be it for him to stand between her and her ice-cream.

In fact, she was free to love as many flavors as she felt necessary.

As long as she always remembered to bring him home a tub of vanilla along with her 'Flavor of the Month', he'd murmured with a tender smile as he moved fearlessly around her upraised utensil to steal a chaste kiss, they'd call it even.

Although, he'd added playfully, noting with a grin that her blush had reasserted itself even as he pulled back and swiped a spoonful of her dessert in the same motion, this Triple Raspberry White-choc Truffle really was _quite_ good.

Almost as good as vanilla.

She'd gaped at him for all of two seconds as the implications of that statement registered.

And though he'd fully anticipated a swift retaliation of some description, he was still rendered momentarily stunned when three stray popcorn kernels hit him on the cheek in rapid succession.

Then, as a devious and unrepentant grin stole over her features, she'd taken advantage of his surprise to leave her ice-cream on the coffee table in favor of commandeering the bowl of popcorn. And it was with a triumphant laugh that she'd surged to her feet, successfully evading his hasty lunge to pelt him with another handful of the lightly buttered kernels before scrambling to seek cover behind the other couch.

With the couch acting as a barrier between them, Cagalli had made ample use of her ammunition and marksmanship skills as Athrun took the time to deposit his own ice-cream carefully next to hers. But it was an advantage shorted-lived when he'd merely shot her a sly little smile and, with a few loping steps, vaulted cleanly over the back of the couch to tackle her to the ground.

The ensuing tussle had seen two of Orb's most respected and respectable politicians laughing and rolling around like little kids: with Cagalli directing feather-light fingers at Athrun's unprotected sides, and Athrun struggling to pin her hands to the floor, while the popcorn bowl somehow managed to up-end itself over the both of them in the meantime.

In the end, rather predictably, the movie had been forgotten and the ice-cream left to melt as they spent the rest of the evening cleaning up -- a process made longer by their inability to resist launching covert attacks at each other whenever an unsuspecting back presented itself.

And while their vastly differing preferences for ice-cream were never specifically mentioned again, Athrun had since taken it upon himself to ensure that, whenever the situation called for it, there were always _two_ bowls of popcorn within easy reach.

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**End**

**Final Notes:** /LOL/ Apologies for giving most of you cavities. Any comments will, as always, be appreciated.


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